Precious Thing
by Alisu-chan
Summary: After Ranma runs afoul of one of Kodachi's schemes, Akane and Shampoo help each other, and start to become closer. Femmeslash Fluff.


**Precious Thing**

_A/N: Ranma ½ and all characters within are not owned by me, but by Rumiko Takahashi and her fleets of (mostly imagined on my part) lawyers. Please, no law suits... _

          "Oooooh-ho-ho-ho-ho! Oh, oooh-ho-ho-ho!"

          Ear splitting, maniacal laughter echoed over the rooftops of Nerima, suburb of Tokyo. Not that the rooftops were ever exactly quiet, but this laughter, this sort of odd cackling was especially triumphant. 

          Standing in the courtyard of one Tendo Dojo, a girl in a black leotard, small and lithe by most standards, was the source of the huge laughter. Kuno Kodachi, mad rhythmic gymnast by occupation, was surrounded by the Tendo family and their relations by engagement. 

          "Kodachi, what did you DO?" Akane yelled, gesturing towards the slumped over figure next to her. A black haired boy, wearing Chinese clothes, his eyes half open was leaning on the Black Rose. 

          "You, peon! Watch how you address the Black Rose!" 

          "What happened to Ranma honey?" Ukyo asked, a few steps apart from Akane. Common concern had brought the two of them, along with Shampoo, into an uneasy alliance. When Ranma had not turned up at home or either restaurant he frequented for supper last night, a search had quickly fallen together, the elder Kuno even volunteering to 'search for the tormentor of my pig tailed goddess, and may hap save both her and Akane Tendo from his evil clutches'. Now, in the morning, Ranma had reappeared with Kodachi. Kodachi, expert poisoner and a woman with no scruples whatsoever had supposedly had custody of the boy all night, which caused clear concern for all parties involved. 

          "You mean my husband?" Kodachi asked, followed by another long bout of laughter. 

          Akane screamed over the laughter, something to the effect of "RANMA YOU PERVERT, YOU JERK!" at the same time as Soun began to sob. Ukyo glared, and Shampoo pronouncedly cracked her knuckles. 

          "Look, you feeble girls upon the triumph of Kodachi Kuno, now Kodachi Saotome!" She held up a hand, and indeed, on her third finger, a wide gold band glinted. She laughed again, as Soun's tears increased to a full out deluge. 

          "BOY! WHAT DID YOU DO??" Genma-as-Panda waved his sign frantically. No response from Ranma. Ukyo swung her spatula menacingly, advancing towards the newly-weds. 

          "You're gonna pay, Kodachi, for stealing my Ran-chan." Kodachi backed up a little bit, pulling out her ribbon. Akane was silently walking forward, pulling the sleeves on her school uniform up past her elbows. Shampoo was the last to move, walking like a cat with it's back stiff. 

"Flower Girl gonna die now." She muttered, before the three girls lunged at the Black Rose. In a second, the chase was off, out the gates and into Nerima's sunny streets. 

"Oh my." Kasumi said after a moment. She appeared a bit shocked, but the unpleasantness was quickly washed over. "Mr. Saotome, a hot kettle?" 

Nabiki too sighed, before dragging her weeping father and his panda companion indoors. "Daddy, get over yourself already."

Alone in the courtyard, Ranma groaned and toppled to the ground. He lay in the dust, and no one noticed for quite some time. 

Elsewhere, the four girls were engaged in a fierce, moving battle across the streets, houses and back alleys. "You'll never take my darling Ranma away from me!" Kodachi shouted, still laughing as she darted from point to point, close pursued by three attacks. In a moment of pause, after Shampoo and Ukyo had fallen together into a trash can and were extricating themselves, Kodachi stood aloft. 

"You hussy!" Ukyo yelled up as Kodachi cast a fistful of rose petals in the air, and, laughing yet again, disappeared. The three girls were left quite alone. Ukyo threw her long spatula like a javelin, a wordless scream of rage exploding from somewhere deep within the normally calm girl. Akane, screaming too, started to kick and punch at a wall, venting her toxic anger. 

"I can't believe him! Ranma! How could you! RANMAA!" 

Ukyo, after a few moments, ran off chasing her spatula, and Shampoo and Akane were left alone to vent the still remaining rage. Shampoo had been spouting loud expletives in Chinese, but as she calmed down and tried to regain her Japanese, Akane stopped her onslaught of the wall. Slowly, she sagged under the weight of her own emotion, flopping to crouch on her knees, curled fetally. Shampoo looked over as the sound of anger vanished. The other girl was rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face. Shampoo stood paralyzed, feeling stranger with every sob that wracked her rival. 

Akane had lost herself in anger first, and the anger, when it ebbed, had led to despair, and pain, deeper by a thousand times. _This is what I hide with temper. She knew it was true, but all she could do now was cry at Ranma's betrayal. Tears clouded her eyes over, and when she could see again, a purple blur was across from her, crouched in the same way, weight on heels. Shampoo smoothed hair out of Akane's face, gentler than she'd ever been before, and from somewhere on her tiny dress produced enough fabric to dry the other girl's eyes. _

"Akane-girl okay?" Shampoo asked, sitting on the ground truly. Akane relaxed after a moment and, falling back, did the same. 

The first thing that came out of her mouth was a hiccup. The second was a question. "Why do you care, Shampoo?" Snuffling, she felt sorry for saying it immediately. 

"We all hurt now, we all hurt together. Is okay to feel pain together too?" Shampoo muddled across in her broken speech. They sat in near silence for a moment longer, Akane still occasionally sniffling. "You no want go see Ranma now. You come have Ramen?" Shampoo said it, and Akane looked up. _Why would Shampoo be so charitable to me now?_ But all she did was stare. "It free on house, broken heart special today." Shampoo climbed up, and the two of them awkwardly walked the few blocks to the Nekohanten. 

Shampoo was slicing cabbages behind the counter, and Akane sat at the bar, watching. There was a bit of a strange silence still drifting across the room, broken by occasional comments. "You wanting fish or chicken?" Shampoo would ask, and Akane would respond in a monosyllable. 

As the ramen boiled, Akane turned to the Amazon. "How can you take Ranma's, well, marriage, sitting down?" she asked. Shampoo looked up. 

"Well, tell truth? Shampoo would happy if no obligated to marry Airen." She paused, and Akane almost gasped. She held it in, and Shampoo continued. "Shampoo love Airen, but tired of chasing, tired of Mousse chasing Shampoo, want only to find good new Airen and be good Amazon Warrior again." Akane felt a bit sorry for Shampoo at that second. _After all, she reasoned, __My_ family are the only ones pushing for a wedding. Shampoo's whole tribe, her whole social structure will expel her if she doesn't come home with Ranma and a baby on the way._ _

"So Amazon law says you can't go back on your, um, kiss?" Akane asked. Shampoo nodded and tasted the ramen. "You're stuck with whomever beats you?" 

"If is male outsider, yes. Or," Shampoo, now serving two steaming bowls, giggled. "If Amazon Warrior like girl better, she get choose." Akane looked up, shock and embarrassment painting her face. 

"You mean, they're... you know, like those girls on the TV, Um, Sailor Show? Your tribe accepts them?"

"They people too, they strong warriors. Why not accept? Shampoo never understands why Japan people, China people too, so… um, word word word… inhibited?" Akane, as a bowl of House Special ramen was passed to her, had to agree with the logic there. 

Out in the Tendo Dojo, as lunch time passed and the two girls chatted across the Nekohanten counters, Ranma opened his eyes. "Why am I in the yard?" was the first thought that crossed his mind. It could have been Shampoo, Cologne, Mousse, maybe Ryouga. Kuno was a suspect too. His own father could have knocked him unconscious. Or another betrothed off the streets, probably sold to the family in exchange for an ice cream store or some fresh hell like that. Ranma shrugged off the confusion, figuring it would eventually be sorted out, and headed indoors. 

_Rotten Ranma._ Akane attacked her punching bag. Usually, she hid it in the closet, where no one could see. What kind of awful things would Ranma say, after all, if he saw his face on a practice dummy?

Akane had set up this little stress-reliever back when Ranma first showed up and threw her life into a tempest. Roundhouse to his back. "Ha!" Akane shouted, and punched, breaking an imaginary nose. "Stupid Ranma." She said. It was better anger than pain, better getting it out that keeping it inside, where it ferments and rots everything around it. She glared at the threadbare doll before starting to haul it back to its hiding place. "Well, I DO feel better." She tried to defend her actions, speaking emphatically to the silence. She hauled the door open. "He's stupid, he shouldn't have married her when he had so many better choices. Me!" She paused. "Shampoo and Ukyo too, they're both good enough for you Ranma. Why did you go off with that… other one?" Akane had always had the understanding that Ranma would marry one of the three of them, always deeper down had the expectation that when the time came, he would choose her. The sensible choice, after all. 

But was it? If he chose another, only her family would be angry, just some strangers he'd known for a while. If he jilted Ukyo, there would go his free food, and a childhood best friend. And if Shampoo was left unmarried, Ranma really had no assurance that she, or worse Cologne, wouldn't just try to kill him out of spite. Ranma was a man who had too many death-threats as it was. _Besides, she's the cutest of us._ The thought came unbidden, and Akane punched the Ranma doll again out of surprise. 

Ranma looked slightly purple as Akane walked through the dining room. Soun, tears still in his eyes, was talking with the young man. 

"I never did NO SUCH THING!" Ranma yelled. 

"You did, boy!" Genma yelled back, and the two started in on one of their famed Father-Son Bonding experiences; namely, throwing each other into the Koi Pond. A few towels and moments later, Girl-type Ranma returned to the table. 

"I didn't get married to that psycho bitch!" He, or rather she screamed. His ursine father and Soun began to cry together again. Nabiki, who had been totaling something on a calculator, pointed to Ranma's ring finger. A now slightly too large wedding band hung there. Ranma started to cry. 

"Hey, I thought you were too manly for that?" Akane said from her vantage point leaned against the doorpost. 

"I'm a girl NOW!" Ranma shouted, as Kasumi reentered with a kettle. She became He again in a split second, panda father following. "You know, this is unfair." Ranma pouted. At that point, in grand Nerima entrance fashion, the dining room wall exploded. 

"SAOTOME! HOW DARE THOU MARRY MY SISTER?" Kuno roared as he charged in, bokken at the ready. Ranma rolled his eyes. "YOU WILL FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES BEFORE THIS NIGHT IS OVER, YOU FOUL MISCREANT!" He had gotten three or four steps when he was rendered unconscious, in the usual fashion. 

"My god, the wackos keep on coming." Ranma grumbled. "First this uncute fiancé, now him..." Akane was halfway to smashing the offending skull in with a mallet when a familiar laugh sounded about the building. 

"I am come to claim my beloved Ranma!" shouted Kodachi from some unseen place. 

"Akane! You gotta help me here!" Ranma pleaded. "Say... uh, say we're already married so that the second marriage is void!" Akane smiled, and Ranma breathed a sigh of relief.

"You two lovebirds can surely work it out between you, married and all?" She asked. Ranma howled as Akane departed down the hall to take her bath. Smirking. 

"So he actually ran SCREAMING out of the house after she arrived." Akane reported, licking her ice cream. 

"Aiya! No is way!" Shampoo yelled, scattering pigeons. The two sat by the riverside, just past the Nerima shopping district. 

"Ranma's irresponsible, you know. He's just so... argh!" She kicked a stray pebble, and it bounded into the water, created a tiny ripple, and was gone. After a moment of silence, Akane continued. "Apparently she drugged him and had him sign all the papers, barely able to move." Akane laughed. "I would have given a lot to see that."

"Do forgive Ranma for marry Kodachi?" the Amazon asked. Akane looked away at the water, and then nodded. 

"Not like it was his fault. Now him and Nabiki are working full time on divorce suits. It's funny to watch him try and understand; after all my Oneechan uses Big Words." She chuckled for a moment, and then stopped, realizing who she was talking to. Shampoo blushed. 

"Is okay, is okay. Shampoo working hard to learn speaking properly. See, used big word there!" 

"I know you're not dumb." Akane said. "I mean, last week I would have said you were a bimbo who didn't know anything from anything besides flipping your skirt for Ranma, but I guess I really was wrong." Shampoo laughed. "Was that funny? It sounded mean, after I said it." 

"Is funny, funny funny!" Shampoo seemed to have caught a bad case of giggles. 

"By the way," Akane said as Shampoo kicked the ground in amusement. "I really meant to thank you for the other day, I felt a lot better after talking over, you know, that stuff." Shampoo smiled at the other girl before being caught by another round of guffaws. 

Akane moved through her stances with a long bamboo pole, twirling furiously back and forth. _Speed. Speed. I need more speed._ She told herself, as attacks and blocks flew by almost subconsciously. 

Out of range of the occasional mess-up, Ranma and Nabiki sat poring over law books. "Couldn't I challenge the marriage because I'm already engaged, it's polygamy!" Ranma shouted. 

Nabiki held up two fingers. "Two problems with that. Either your engagements are not legally binding contracts, and the government won't care dipshit, OR they'll recognize your engagements..." Ranma nodded eagerly. "And make you choose one finace, and stop being a PRE-polygamist." Ranma's face fell. 

They studied again, and after a brief interval where only Akane's practicing noises punctuated the silence, Nabiki poked her head up from the books. "I've got it!" 

"What?" both Ranma and Akane, the latter who had just finished a particularly complicated kata, responded. 

"All we have to do is convince the court you're really a female, and then the marriage is off!" There was a silence, a profound silence. 

"YES!" Ranma yelled. 

"Oh Nee-chan." Akane sighed, and started her practice again, this time unarmed. 

"We can tell the court you're a cross dresser!" Nabiki said, almost yelling.

"Yes!" Ranma shouted, then looked at her, realizing what Nabiki has suggested. "We HAVE to?"

"Yes."

"See, Kuno will definitely testify that you're a pervert. We can get Ryouga in too, if he's not missing. Mousse might do it…" Akane, from inside her forms, sighed. It's all this crazy family. 

"Welcome to Nekohanten, may Shampoo take order? Special day is…"  
Shampoo trailed off as Akane entered. "Akane, what you here for?"  

"Well... uh, actually." Akane mumbled. Shampoo dusted off her hands on her apron, and looked questioningly at Akane. "You know how I'm bad at cooking?" Shampoo laughed. "Uh, well, might you want to teach me a bit of cooking type stuff?" Akane blushed a bit, muddling her hands around. 

Behind the counters, Shampoo and Akane both stood. "Here, this recipe simple, cookies." said the Amazon, lifting a cook book. "Mixing butter with egg first, ok."

Akane winced, but put down the stick of butter. Nothing exploded or went sour, to her delight, and slight surprise. "I swear, if you all have water curses", she said, and at Shampoo's gesturing, cracked an egg on the side of the bowl, "I have a cooking curse." The yellow center oozed into the bowl lazily. Shampoo began to stir with a wooden spoon, looking incredibly domestic. But that was the kind of girl she was, at least when food was involved. Akane knew she was jealous of people like that, like Kasumi. When your older sister was the perfect wife in training, it made it just a little more shaming to be so thoroughly opposite of that ideal. 

"Aiya!" Shampoo snipped, snapping Akane out of the reverie. The Chinese girl's hand was holding Akane's wrist, keeping a cup measure from pouring into the mixture. 

"What? I'm adding the sugar!" Akane complained. Shampoo looked at her, then away to the box from where the ingredient had come. And Akane was irritated to see such laughter in her eyes.

"Is, is no sugar, but is baking powder!" Shampoo started off alarmed, but within a moment, was chuckling hard. Akane blushed, and tried to stammer a reply. 

"I, well, I was distracted, you, you know, uh yeah…" She trailed off. She set down the measure, but Shampoo's grip on her hand stayed. Although, thankfully, it relaxed a bit. 

"You always thinking so hard, when cook?" Shampoo asked. Akane had the memory, it was true, every time that she'd created another Frankenfood, of being completely elsewhere in her thoughts; usually mad at Ranma, or how she was going to show those insensitive jerks, put Martha Stewart to shame. 

"I didn't think of that before… I feel like an idiot, somehow." Shampoo's fingers crawled up to her own hand, and squeezed tight – not in a painful way, or urgent, like it had been before. But comforting. 

"You no think of things, no see many things before, Shampoo no too." She stated. Akane squeezed back. 

It was a moment, maybe an illusive few moments later, when Akane snapped back to reality. She retracted her hand, hiding away the strange blushing sensation, and picked up the sugar bowl. "This is what I add, right?"

"Aiyaa! No that much, Akane girl poison cookie with sweet!"

The air sang under her movements, dodging back and forth after every attack she made. Akane's feet were busy, even when she didn't kick. Dancing almost, she snapped from place to place, pushing her body as fast as she could. Though no one was there to push against but a dummy (this one devoid of any likeness to her promised one), she felt like something good was coming of these sessions. 

Behind her, Ranma was struggling with a tie, a difficult task when his female hands had surely never handled one before, though Akane doubted he'd done so as either gender. Today was the first hearing for his divorce. Or rather, as the legal system referred to it, her divorce. Akane had been listening in to the whole grim process for the last week, as first tearful Kodachi asked why her beloved was trying to get rid of her, and vowed vengeance on the woman who was trying to steal his heart. Akane was concerned about some form of attack on her person, but as usual, the problem with Kodachi's visit was simply cleaning up the excess of rose petals that her grand exits left behind. 

Kuno's affidavit had been hilarious to listen to, as he ranted and raved about the perverted Saotome, keeping his pigtailed girl confined and subjugated. Ranma had read the paper once, and then hurled it into the fireplace, screaming. But Akane knew her sister better than to be alarmed. Nabiki, of course, had made copies.

Behind her, the petite redhead finished the task. Nabiki made vaguely approving noises from her seat on the porch outside. Both wearing suits, the pair would make quite an entertaining entrance at the courthouse, of that Akane was sure. 

Akane wiped her mind clear, but no matter how she tried, ticklish thoughts came flashing through. Outside, Nabiki was Ranma into stiletto heels. The reluctant redhead's screams were breaking through Akane's concentration in a most irritating manner. But, she reasoned, the sight was surely worth taking a break for. 

She came to lean on the door just as Nabiki was demonstrating how to walk like a woman. "You sway your hips a little!" 

Ranma, standing beside her and wobbling frantically, tried it. 

"No, no no! You look like a prostitute, I said a LITTLE, don't try and hula hoop!" Nabiki whapped Ranma's butt with her stack of legal documents. Akane tried her hardest not to collapse from laughter. 

Ranma crept home from the trial, hoping against hope that no one would pay a late night visit. She had had no idea how exhausting it could be to be insulted by Kuno in a court of law. Or to follow the poor old judge's mental processes (and his roving eyes, for that matter) as the question of Ranma's gender was settled in a most final matter. As she entered the house, Ranma heard a noise from the sitting room. She peered around the corner. Akane was lying on the couch, a phone cradled under her neck. She was giggling into it, and talking in low whispers. Ranma wondered if it was one of those girls that followed her around and mooned over P-chan. Probably Yumi, that's her name.

Then Akane shrieked a giggle. "Shampoo! That's absolutely not fair!" She laughed, rolling over onto her stomach. Ranma yanked her head back into hiding, gasping. _The one thing I do NOT need tonight,_ she thought, _is a mallet to the head._

The martial artist peered back towards the lighted room for a moment, wondering deeply. Why exactly would Akane be calling Shampoo, and acting all buddy-buddy with her. "Didn't they hate each other, last time I checked?" Ranma asked aloud, to no reply. "Well, if they're friends that makes one less recurring brawl before lunchtime." And with that thought, she padded off to the furo for a well deserved hot soak. 

Lunch was already well underway when Akane slipped into her seat. She was wearing her practice gi, which wasn't that unusual, given it was a Sunday and she was hanging around the house. But no one in the family (or the extended houseguests) could recall when she'd trained so furiously. Akane took a deep breath, wiped her sleeve across her forehead, and set to work on her rice with fervor. 

It had hardly been three minutes before she popped up from the table again and, excusing herself, headed for the dojo. "WHAT has gotten into that girl?" Nabiki asked after her white back had disappeared from the doorway. 

"Maybe she's upset about Ranma's divorce?" Kasumi offered, spooning more rice into her sister's bowl. Ranma shifted uncomfortably. 

"Maybe she's blazing angry and training up to kill you!" Genma suggested a little too eagerly. Ranma choked on his vegetables. "It would serve you right after all your philandering, you know."

"WHAT philandering, old man?" Ranma shouted, standing up from the table. Genma rose too, shouting even louder, as Soun underneath began to weep that his daughter was going to murder her finace.

A few minutes later, as Akane stretched herself on the Dojo floor, a somewhat damp female Ranma came in the door. She stood and watched Akane complete the warm up, and stand, jogging in place.

"Oh! Ranma…" Akane said, startled at this appearance. "I didn't see you… how, um, long have you been there?" She kicked in the air, and followed by dodging around an imaginary opponent to trip invisible feet, and bring soundless torso smashing to the ground. 

Ranma didn't answer her question. "Akane. What are you doing?" She said nothing for a moment only took a deep breath and stood from her fighting position.

"Want to spar?" She asked congenially. Ranma looked at her wide eyed, but nodded slowly and took her place on the wooden floor.  The room was silent as they fought, bodies moving almost in unison. Hand meets hand, foot meets foot, jump meets jump, matched motion for motion in an intricate dance. 

Akane sat on the floor panting, and Ranma stood above her, disguising her exhaustion better. "You're…" Ranma began. She wanted to say, 'much better'. She wanted to say 'great'. She wanted to say 'tough to beat'. "…faster." She finished weakly. "Akane, are you training up to kill me?"

The question broke Akane's dour face completely, and like lighting. She laughed hard, clutching her stomach and panting. "No." she managed to get out between giggles. "Did Nabiki make that one up…?"

"Well, then," Ranma said standing above her and looking down, puzzled. "Why are you doing this?"

"I suppose… It's, I don't want to kill you, but I am going to hurt you." She answered. Ranma tilted her head in confusion. "You see, I want to take something away from you. Something precious that you don't, or won't recognize the value in."

"You're crazy, you know that? A crazy tomboy."  

Shampoo read the simple note again. It was nothing much, just scribbles on a white scrap. So how could something so simple shred her to bits like this letter was doing now? She wanted to know that, needed to know that, but above all else, she needed desperately to know why.

_Dear Shampoo; _

_          I challenge you to a fight in the empty lot on Saturday, at __3pm__._

_                             Sincerely,      _

_                             Tendou Akane._

Shampoo read it over. She spoke it aloud, running the smooth words over her tongue to see if they really exsisted. Surely, she wouldn't be able to say them, and they would scatter like stardust? 

But there they went, tripping from her lips off into the world in full reality. Why? She put down the letter and spoke it again, for who needed the written word, who had these syllables engraved on her heart? Nineteen words. Akane could have used fewer words and been gruff, and Shampoo would have known that she hated her indeed. Or she could have used a few more, been flowery or explained herself. It was just this number that was the terror. She whispered them to herself again and again as she chopped the ingredients for the ramen. Why? Why, Akane? When had nineteen little words ever made a day so bleak? And why had they done it, why had she put those words to her service and crafted the note, crafted the note that came to Shampoo's door and started her off wondering 'Why?'. 

Saturday afternoon was bright and full of sun, and Akane shaded her eyes against it. She was standing in the empty lot, and walking purposefully down the street towards her was Shampoo. The Amazon stopped at the entrance to the lot, questions pressing up inside her. Akane didn't look mad, or hateful… did she? 

"Akane, why you do this?" Shampoo asked, stepping forward. Akane repeated her challenge message. 

"I want to duel you, right here, right now. Do you object to that?" Akane brushed imagined dust off her karate gi, as Shampoo sunk her head slightly. 

"Shampoo can no, I can no refuse to fight when Amazon honor is at stake. You have your fight, Akane." Her purple head bobbed back up again, and Shampoo's eyes were distant. 

They stood across from each other, and bowed slowly. They took up a fighting stance, and waited. Without needing a signal, they were off. Shampoo jumped in with a kick; Akane cartwheeled to the side and blocked the incoming foot with her own. Shampoo grabbed for Akane's foot and swung her opponent to the ground. Akane rolled over and regained her feet quickly, bouncing back and forth. Shampoo, still on the offensive, and wondering exactly what Akane's purpose was, launched another attack. This time, her fists flew towards the other girl with all the speed that Cologne had ingrained in her. 

Akane darted aside easily, and Shampoo skidded onwards in shock, only to be tripped by Akane's foot, which was extended in her path. Shampoo tumbled over and smashed into the ground. She cursed and stood again. 

This time, Akane attacked. Her eyes were like steel, nothing was there for Shampoo to read as they exchanged blocks and punches. Only her own reflected eyes, nervous and determined, came back at the purple haired warrior. She dodged Akane's kick, and was about to trip the girl when she was swept to the ground again. Akane had turned around between one tick of the clock and the next, and slammed Shampoo to the ground, knocking the breath thoroughly out of her lithe body. 

Akane stepped back. Shampoo lay on the ground, gasping for air. "Is it over?" The black haired girl asked, looking down. Shampoo nodded. 

"Amazon rules say… say… when combatant can no longer stand for fight, fight is declare over." She panted through the statement, and only after she completed it did the sinking feeling enter her body. She felt as though she'd passed straight through the ground and was well on her way to the center of the earth. 

Akane looked down at Shampoo, who was propping herself up slowly. "Akane…. Why you do this… you know Amazon law?" The Tendou daughter nodded. "I have to give Kiss of Death and hunt to ends of earth." Shampoo stated the fact simply, though her heart felt like it would cave in. Had it been this bad when she'd learned that her Airen and her sworn enemy were the same person? Had the world turned gray like this, like knowing she'd have to spill Akane's blood? Shampoo stood, composed on the outside. _Honor is everything_, she told herself. 

"You know… you don't have to give me the Kiss of Death." Akane stated simply. This was it. She'd long ago decided her course of action, and she'd committed herself to it; she had crossed the bridge, and now all she could do was watch it burn. But not until this moment, not until the words crosser her lips, did she suddenly realize there was a very real threat on her life. Akane froze. 

"I... what… Akane what you talk about, Amazon law is law!" Shampoo wanted to scream and run away. Why had she done this? Why?

"You can… you can…" Akane began, her eyes downcast. Shampoo would laugh and say no, she knew it. She knew it, but still raised her eyes to meet the ones across from her, so very precious. Tears were welling deep in the eyes across from her, but Akane spoke on. "There's one more type of Kiss to give." 

The eyes widened as understanding trickled into them, and Shampoo stepped forward. Hot breath was close on Akane's neck, and her insides were panicking with the possibilities. But then Shampoo closed the distance between them, and reached across to Akane. She stroked her hand down the other girl's cheek, and leaned in towards her. 

And for the first time, Akane understood why exactly it was called the 'Kiss of Life'. 

Credits: Ranma ½ and Characters are NOT mine. ~_~. They belong to Rumiko Takahashi. 

The line "she had crossed the bridge, and now all she could do was watch it burn" is an adaptation of a line from "The Point of No Return", Phantom of the Opera. I love that musical, and the quote just popped into my head, so there it is ^_^. I actually want to do a songfic with that song, it's just so full of passion and lust and all those yummy things. (The other good one is Music of the Night – which gasp we're singing in chambers this year.)


End file.
